Abstract
Evergreen shrubs or trees up to 25 high. Leaves alternate, opposite to subopposite, or pseudo-whorled, petiolate, exstipulate (present, minute?), simple, coriaceous, entire to glandular-dentate, penninerved. Inflorescences axillary or terminal racemes, bracteate at base, floral bracts caducous. Flowers hermaphrodite or rarely unisexual, actinomorphic; perianth composed of 4–6 distinct, imbricate, caducous sepals, and 4–6 distinct, imbricate, fleshy, caducous petals, or apetalous; stamens 4–6 or 8–13, distinct, in one whorl, antesepalous, filaments short or almost absent, anthers introrse; disk absent, ovary superior, sessile, bicarpellate, bilocular, fusiform to cylindric, style absent, stigma slightly bipartite, cup-shaped; ovules one per locule, pendant, anatropous, apotropic, unitegmic. Fruit a berry, sometimes asymmetric, crowned by the stigma. Seed 1 or 2, non-arillate; embryo surrounded by chalazal envelope with copious, ruminate endosperm.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Selected Bibliography
Airy Shaw, H.K. 1972. Validation of the family name Sphenostemonaceae. Kew Bull. 27: 325–326.
APG III (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group) 2009. An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 161: 105–121.
Baas, P. 1975. Vegetative anatomy and the affinities of Aquifoliaceae, Sphenostemon, Phelline, and Oncotheca. Blumea 22: 311–407.
Bailey, I.W. 1956. The relationship between Sphenostemon of New Caledonia and Nouhuysia of New Guinea. J. Arnold Arbor. 37: 360–365.
Baillon, H. 1875. Sur le nouveau genre Sphenostemon. Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Paris 1: 53.
Baker, E.G. 1921. Sphenostemon comptonii. In: Rendle, A.B. et al., Systematic account of the plants collected in New Caledonia and the Isle of Pines by Prof. R. H. Compton, M.A., in 1914. Part 1, Flowering Plants (Angiospermae). J. Linn Soc., Bot 45: 287, pl. 16.
Bernardi, L. 1964. La position systématique du genre Sphenostemon Baillon sensu van Steenis. Candollea 19: 199–205.
Bremer, K., Backlund, A., Sennblad, B. et al. 2001. A phylogenetic analysis of 100+ genera and 50+ families of euasterids based on morphological and molecular data with notes on possible higher level morphological synapomorphies. Plant Syst. Evol. 229: 137–169.
Cameron, K.M. 2002. On the phylogenetic position of the New Caledonian endemic families Paracryphiaceae, Oncothecaceae, and Strasburgeriaceae: a comparison of molecules and morphology. Bot. Rev. 68: 428–443.
Carr, G.D., McPherson, G. 1986. Chromosome Numbers of New Caledonian plants. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 73: 486–489.
Dickison, W.C., Baas, P. 1977. The morphology and relationships of Paracryphia (Paracryphiaceae). Blumea 23: 417–438.
Doweld, A.B. 2000. Sphenostemonaceae. In: Takhtajan, A., Anatomia seminum comparativa. Rosidae I 5: 118–119. St. Petersburg: Nauka.
Endress, P.K. 2008. The whole and the parts: relationships between floral architecture and floral organ shape, and their repercussions on the interpretation of fragmentary floral fossils. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 95: 101–120.
Erdtman, G. 1952. Pollen Morphology and Plant Taxonomy. Angiosperms. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.
Gibbs, L.S. 1917. A contribution to the phytogeography and flora of the Arfak mountains. London: Taylor & Francis, p. 136.
Jérémie, J. 1997. Sphenostemonaceae. In: Morat, P. (ed.) Flore de la Nouvelle-Calédonie 21: 3–21.
Lobreau, D. 1969. Les limites de l’ordre Celastrales d’après le pollen. Pollen et Spores 11: 499–555.
Lobreau-Callen, D. 1977. Les pollens des Célastrales. Sphenostemonaceae. Mém. Trav. Inst. Montpellier 3: 51–54.
Loesener, T. 1942. Aquifoliaceae. In: Engler, A., Prantl, K., Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien, 2nd edn, 20b: 6–86.
Magallón, S., Castillo, A. 2009. Angiosperm diversification through time. Amer. J. Bot. 96: 349–365.
Metcalfe, C.R. 1956. The taxonomic affinities of Sphenostemon in the light of the anatomy of its stem and leaf. Kew Bull. 11: 249–253.
Savinov, I.A. 2003 Comparative carpology of the genus Sphenostemon (Sphenostemonaceae) in the context of its taxonomy and phylogeny. Bot. Zh. 88: 5–16.
Savolainen, V., Fay, M.F., Albach, D.C. et al. 2000. Phylogeny of the eudicots: a nearly complete familial analysis based on rbcL gene sequences. Kew Bull. 55: 257–309.
Solnzewa, M.P. 1987. Sphenostemonaceae. In: Batygina, T.B, Yakovlev, M.S. (eds.) Comparative embryology of flowering plants. Davidiaceae-Asteraceae. P. 47. Leningrad: Nauka, p. 391.
Steenis, C.G.G.J. van 1952. Reduction of two endemic monotypic Papuan genera. Act. Bot. Neerl. 1: 94–98.
Steenis, C.G.G.J. van 1955. Some notes on the flora of New Caledonia and reduction of Nouhuysia to Sphenostemon. Svensk Bot. Tidskr. 49: 19–23.
Steenis, C.G.G.J. van 1986. Sphenostemonaceae. Flora Males. I, 10: 145–149.
Tank, D.C., Donoghue, M.J. 2010. Phylogeny and phylogenetic nomenclature of the Campanulidae based on an expanded sample of genes and taxa. Syst. Bot. 35: 425–441.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Thiv, M. (2016). Sphenostemonaceae. In: Kadereit, J., Bittrich, V. (eds) Flowering Plants. Eudicots. The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28534-4_31
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28534-4_31
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28532-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28534-4
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)